Interior decorators reveal the best way to revive a drab room

If you’re not looking to commit to a full-on renovation, you can easily revive any room with a chic paint job or colourful wallpaper.

Whether you want to brighten, darken, or just change the personality of a room, here are a few tips Drew Stuart and his business partner Adam Rolston at Incorporated Architecture and Design shared with us.

Don’t be afraid of patterns

While you could go down the solid-colour route (in which case you could consider a paint job), Stuart and Rolston like to encourage their clients to experiment with textured and/or patterned wallpaper.

“Everything starts with the wallpaper,” Stuart explained.

In the above “Bohemian Apartment” project, the duo used a wood-ribbed wallpaper for the dining area, and a pale, tree-patterned one in the next-door playroom. While this created a nice contrast between the two rooms, it simultaneously tied them together by sticking to a natural, neutral-coloured theme.

Incorporated Architecture & Design/Annie Schlechter

Colour blocking makes things cosy and cohesive

Above, Stuart and Rolston used a colourful, leaf-patterned wallpaper on three sides of a study. “It’s called colour blocking, and it creates this really cosy niche,” Stuart said.

Rolston and Stuart further recommend taking one additional step to tie a room together even more. “Use everything: a room’s architecture, wall coverings, and colouring,” said Rolston. Following their own advice, they painted the built-in bookshelves in colours that matched the wallpaper.